Clinical Chemistry
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Clinical Chemistry 39: 22-36, 1993;
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wu, A. H.
Right arrow Articles by McKinley, B. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Wu, A. H.
Right arrow Articles by McKinley, B. A.

Clinical Chemistry, Vol 39, 22-36, Copyright © 1993 by American Association for Clinical Chemistry

The clinical chemistry and immunology of long-duration space missions

AH Wu, GR Taylor, GA Graham and BA McKinley
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Texas Medical School, Houston 77030.

Clinical laboratory diagnostic capabilities are needed to guide health and medical care of astronauts during long-duration space missions. Clinical laboratory diagnostics, as defined for medical care on Earth, offers a model for space capabilities. Interpretation of laboratory results for health and medical care of humans in space requires knowledge of specific physiological adaptations that occur, primarily because of the absence of gravity, and how these adaptations affect reference values. Limited data from American and Russian missions have indicated shifts of intra- and extracellular fluids and electrolytes, changes in hormone concentrations related to fluid shifts and stresses of the missions, reductions in bone and muscle mass, and a blunting of the cellular immune response. These changes could increase susceptibility to space-related illness or injury during a mission and after return to Earth. We review physiological adaptations and the risk of medical problems that occur during space missions. We describe the need for laboratory diagnostics as a part of health and medical care in space, and how this capability might be delivered.




HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1993 by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.